The Demon Bride
by Crystal Arrow
Summary: Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru have been brought together by their long lost sister, Michera. But now they find that she is the demon bride, and every demon in Japan is after her for her powers, and there is nothing they can do to stop it. HIATUS
1. Prologue: First Apperance if a long forg...

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The Demon Bride

By Crystal Arrow

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Prologue: First Appearance of a long Forgotten Memory

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or the other character from that story; they belong to someone else who actually has talent. 

Deep in a forest Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru fought yet another battle against each other. Kagome stood on the sidelines, horrified. Shippo is on the ground cheering Inuyasha on. Myoga was on top of Shippo's head, anxiously watching the battle. On the other side, Jaken stood with his extremely ugly stick waiting the right moment. Hiding a distance off from the battlefield was Rin, wondering why Sesshoumaru left her there.

The battle between the brothers had been going on for a few hours now. Yet again, Sesshoumaru had come trying to take the Tetsusaiga away from his little brother. The sword now lies on the sidelines, forgotten by the demons on their rampage for the other's blood.

Inuyasha fell to the ground after a hard blow to the back of the head by his half brother. With eyes wide, he crashed into the ground from the force of the blow. Kagome gasps as Sesshoumaru gets out of the way as Jaken hits Inuyasha with a large fireball. Inuyasha manages to get out of the way just before getting hit by the blast, but is badly burned. The Dog demons glare their hatred at each other. Hidden within a tree near the clearing made by the demons' fight, a dark feminine figure shifted into a better position to jump from her place when the time came. You are able to see her eyes only, under bangs and leaves. They are a deep golden yellow, which show anxiety and worry masked over by long-lived sadness.

Inuyasha tries to rise but he is unable to for the long toll of battle began to wear down on him. Kagome runs forward to stop him from stubbornly trying to rise and continue to fight though to do so would be his death. She turns to Sesshoumaru and begs for him to spare Inuyasha. He says nothing, yet Jaken fires an even larger fireball at the couple on the ground s he tries to finish his job of getting rid of his mater's pests. Kagome turns and hugs Inuyasha to her, hoping to shield him from the blast. Amazingly, the fireball never hits them.

The fireball collides with something, causing it to implode. Dust and lose dirt and rubble flew about the air from the force of the explosion. Kagome squeezed her eyes shut in an attempt to block out the future she knew would be ahead of her when the fire hit her, it would be her death. Yet it never hit her. Kagome could feel fire against her skin and small sticks and twigs come flying at her from ahead, only giving her a few minor cuts and bruises from their impact upon her. Upon opening her eyes, she found herself in a cloud of smoke and dust. Looking up, she could only see the figure of a woman, no a girl braced against a now depleted force.

As the smoke clears, the scene becomes visible to those outside of the dust cloud, revealing what has happened. Inuyasha is barely conscious and Kagome only mildly burned. Myoga and Sesshoumaru both gasp as they see another dog demon. She looks younger than Kagome, but has a mature air to her. Long wavy black hair billows in response to the force of the blow from Jaken's stick (whatever you call that ugly thing, heck if I know). Also slightly shorter than Kagome, she wore a very pretty Kimono that appeared to be made of the same material as the outfit Inuyasha always wore, only hers was dyed green. She would have looked human, were it not that she had two gray doglike ears and a gray tail that made you think twice about calling her human.

Sesshoumaru stood speechless. Atop of Shippo's head, Myoga whispered, "Milady Michera…" Everything seemed to freeze as the dust settled completely. The girl had eyes almost identical to Inuyasha's or Sesshoumaru's. In Sesshoumaru's eyes, time froze completely as a memory from the past that he had tried desperately to forget resurfaced at the appearance of this gray dog demoness, enough to disperse his emotionless mask he always wore so he could widen his eyes in shock at the appearance of what he thought he had lost so long ago.

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Author's note: Okay, so this is the new story. Please tell me what you think. It's my first Inuyasha fanfic. I already know what I'll write next, I just have to write it, so bear with me until I get to that.

~Crystal Arrow


	2. Chapter 1: the Lost Sibling's Return

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The Demon Bride

By Crystal Arrow

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Chapter 2: The Lost Sibling's Return 

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or the other character from that story; they belong to someone else who actually has talent. 

"Lady Michera…" whispered Myoga from atop of Shippo's shoulder.

Shippo attempted to look up at the flea perched on top of his head. He asked, "Who?" However, no reply came from anyone as everyone in the battle clearing simply stared at the mysterious new demon who had appeared out of now where.

The new dog demon walked over to Inu-yasha who lay pathetically helpless on the ground, bleeding and nearing unconsciousness. She looked down at him, then pulled some herbs out of a pouch within her kimono. She whispered an incantation and threw the herbs onto Inu-yasha in a glittering array of sparkly dust. Inuyasha's wounds began to heal immediately. Kagome sighed thankfully as Inuyasha's wounds disappeared. She looked thankfully to the unknown demon and said hesitantly, "Thank you…., but…, who are you?"

The demon girl simply smiled down at her and replied in a whisper, "Shhh, I want to see if they remember me, but I'll give you a hint." she said with a wink, " The way you and Inu-yasha are going, I'm probably going to end up being your sister in law." The girl giggled, then rose to face Sesshoumaru. Kagome blinked in surprise, trying to figure out what she meant.

Behind the two girls, Inu-yasha rose and gawked at the mysterious demon. Both he and Seshoumaru, who had been staring at the girl from the opposite side of the clearing shouted in their glee, "Michera!! I thought you were dead!!" Michera looked at both of them in turn, and took in a big breathe to prepare for a long speech. _These idiots, when will they ever learn?_

"Am I supposed to be?" she said sarcastically, "Well, that shows me not to leave you two alone together for long periods of time. And I thought the sibling rivalry was bad." she rolled her eyes. "You two should be ashamed of yourselves! You both could have been killed! What would father think if he saw you now, trying to destroy each other! I'm truly disappointed in you tw……..!!!" She was cut off when both Inu-yasha and Seshoumaru ran forth and embraced her. The force of two rather strong demons hugging her at the same time nearly knocked the wind out of the poor girl.

Both of the dog demons were about to begin to talk, when they noticed the other there. Inu-yasha pushed his brother away and snarled, "Stay away from my sister!" he hugged her protectively to his chest. Shippo and Kagome, both to who this was a big surprise, gasped in surprise. Meanwhile the poor girl was nearly being suffocated by Inuyasha's shirt which was in her face, as it should be when she is being squeezed in a tight embrace around her neck by a considerably strong demon. 

Seshoumaru was taken aback. "Your sister?? What are you talking about?" Inuyasha glared at Sesshoumaru, and Sesshoumaru glared right on back. Sweat droplets formed on the backs of everyone's heads as the two dog demons nearly began to fight again.

Finally managing to free herself from Inuyasha's embrace, Michera screamed "Shut up! Both of you!" Stepping away from Inuyasha she looked at each of her brothers in turn. "I am a sister to both of you , now stop quarrelling!" Both of the dog demons hung their heads in shame. It was quite funny for Kagome to see Lord Sesshoumaru being controlled by a little demon girl. (Though when Kagome thought about it, Michera was young, but not much of a girl. She actually looked like more of a woman than Kagome, although she was a few years younger, or so it seemed.) Michera slowly shook her head as she smiled at her brothers. "It's alright, just try not to fight over me, I love both of you."

This wasn't enough to settle these boys, they began shooting reasons on why Michera should like one more than the other. "But he's only a half brother" complained Inu-yasha. 

"We still have the same father" Michera responded. 

"He's only a mutt, a stupid half-breed" complained Seshoumaru.

"And so am I" she replied, looking at him sideways with a raised eyebrow.

"He's a stuck up jerk with an over inflated ego!" Inuyasha yelled while pointing a clawed finger at his brother.

"Haven't you noticed that so are you!!" Michera shot back at him. Kagome had to try hard to suppress her giggles as Inuyasha's face flushed red. In the background you can here Shippo snickering.

"But look how ugly that mutt is!" Sesshoumaru pointed out.

"And you think you're pretty?" Michera asked. Across from Sesshoumaru, Inuyasha is laughing hysterically. 

Jaken who had been wise enough before to just keep quiet not burst out, " How dare you insult his high lord Sesshoumaru!"

"Shut Up!!" yelled out Sesshoumaru who had also gone red in the face.

As Michera grinned at her superiority to her brothers, they were trying desperately to find more excuses for why Michera should ignore the other, but for each one they named, she responded with something she had in common with the other or worse, an insult to the brother himself. After a few minutes, she yelled out, "Just shut up!! I love both of you, now drop it or suffer the consequences!" Both of them shut up "That's better"

Kagome was really liking this girl, Michera, and she was cute. She looked like a darker mix between Sesshoumaru and Inuyasha, with the best traits of them both. And the way her husky like gray tail wagged in her victory was just so cute. Shippo also liked the new dog demon that had arrived. She was witty and cunning, like a vixen, he thought. Myoga, who was still in a daze that Michera was even there just stared at her. Then he sighed happily thinking how good her blood would taste now that she was no longer a puny little pup like the last time he saw her when she was a child. 

There was a sudden rustling in the bushes nearby. The entire group turned towards the sound. They tensed as they watched intently the foliage that shook showing the arrival of two powerful demons. Michera tensed as two wolf demons emerged from the bushes.

Author's Note:

Hehehehe, I went to check my reviews and I found out that someone had actually read my fanfic. It's so cool! Usually I'm invisible to every one every where no matter what, that goes for my work too. Thanks for reviewing!! Please tell me what you think of this new chapter, please. I promise the next chapter will be up next week, I hope. See ya!

~Crystal Arrow


	3. Chapter 2: The Mysterious Demon

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The Demon Bride

By Crystal Arrow

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Chapter 3: The Mysterious Demon

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or the other character from that story; they belong to someone else who actually has talent. 

There was a sudden rustling in the bushes nearby. The entire group turned towards the sound. They tensed as they watched intently the foliage that shook showing the arrival of two powerful demons. Michera tensed as two wolf demons emerged from the bushes.

The first wolf who emerged was Kouga. He was clapping as though all that had gone on between the reunited family was a great part of some play. He was smiling slyly, which caused for Kagome to hide behind Inuyasha for security. Inuyasha would have taken out the Tetsusaiga if he had not lost it during his fight with Sesshoumaru. In its stead he growled defensively. The other wolf demon was solid and emotionless, much like Sesshoumaru. He was young, perhaps a few years older than Inuyasha. His long black hair was loose and his eyes cold. In comparison to Kouga, this wolf demon was dressed much more respectfully and nobly in a black version of what Sesshoumaru wore. He could have been a replica of Sesshoumaru if he wasn't a wolf demon. This other wolf demon was strange and unknown to Inuyasha and his group.

Michera sniffed the air quickly to asses the situation, then hid behind Seshoumaru when she sensed their intentions. Myouga was on Shippo's shoulder, whom was held by Kagome, who now hid behind Inu-yasha. Don't ask how Shippo got there, he must be pretty fast! Kouga stopped clapping, "Good show, good show, bravo, a splendid drama. You got lucky, to run into family."

"What do you want, Koga?" asked Inu-yasha. Koga grinned, while his companion still remained silent. "I just wanted to know how soon it would be until the tournament or if I avoid it for my dear cousin. You wouldn't know him, he only just recently appeared to claim his natural birth right to be leader to the clan. He'd been missing for many a year." 

"What tournament?" asked Inu-yasha, who ignored the bit about Kouga's cousin who remained silent behind him.

"You don't know? You'd better ask your little sister." Koga respond with a sneer. 

A breeze came from behind the two wolf demons. Michera sniffed the air as their scent came to her. Koga's was as you would expect of a wolf demon. However, the other demon was peculiar. She could tell he was strong from many years of trying to survive. He was young, maybe a little older than Inu-yasha. The breeze subsided, taking away the younger demon's scent with it. Michera was snapped out of her daze when Inu-yasha snapped at her, "What does he mean!?"

Michera hesitated to answer him, but was saved when Seshoumaru said, "Save it for later." Michera sighed in relief. She was not prepared to explain where she had been for the past years and why she was gone.

"Oh, but there won't be a later" Koga said as he pounced at Michera. She gasped in shock as she saw Kouga flying at her through the air. Sesshoumaru prepared to defend his little sister, but was too slow after using so much of his strength against Inuyasha. Michera was too far behind him for him to effectively defend her. 

"STOP!!" Koga stopped abruptly just a few feet away from his target. He looked to find his companion walking slowly towards them. "This is not the appropriate way to go about this. We agreed that I would claim the Demon Bride, therefore I must defeat her." the demon stated as he passed Kouga to stand in front of Sesshoumaru. "It seems that you are unaware of the status which your sister holds. Since she has not yet come of age to be claimed, my cousin and I will leave until it is the appropriate time for the tournament to be held. In which case, you should be expecting me, for I will be the first to come to claim the Demon Bride." The demon finished speaking in front of Sesshoumaru. It was almost like a mirror was there between the two. The demon was almost the exact same height as Sesshoumaru, he stood before Sesshoumaru without fear or cockiness. 

Sesshoumaru studied him while a deep low growl was just barely audible from deep within his throat. " Who are you and what do you want with my sister?"

"That doesn't matter, for it doesn't concern you" the demon responded.

"Like hell it doesn't concern me!" Sesshoumaru roared as he lunged at the demon that stood before him. The demon sidestepped and then passed Sesshoumaru. He dropped a seed on the ground then stepped over it. A barrier surrounded him and whatever else he was looking at, which happened to be Michera. Sesshoumaru turned to run after the demon that was now approaching his sister only to run into a barrier that now surrounded his sister and the demon. " Don't you dare touch her!" he roared as he pounded on the barrier with his fists.

Inuyasha, Kagome, Shippo and Myouga ran up to the barrier wishing they could do something. Kouga stood off the side smiling in pride of his cousins wittiness. Michera was rooted in place, watching as if from the outside as the wolf demon slowly approached her. "Why doesn't she move?!" Inuyasha yelled.

_Because I can't,_ Michera thought in fear, _I'm not allowed. _She watched as he came closer until he eventually stopped just barely a foot away from herself. Michera wasn't showing her fear, she simply looked straight into the demon's eyes, as if remembering him from somewhere. 

The wolf demon lifted up his hand to her face. She didn't react at all, _She has been trained well for her job_. Just barely, you could see him smile as he held her chin in his hands. Softly, he spoke neither threateningly or intimately, "You remember me, don't you dog girl? You should, because, I will own you, you will be mine, and in this, I will get my revenge."

Michera's eyes widened in shock, "Ookamishin……" she whispered under breath just before he cut her off with a kiss. Her breath caught in her chest as he kissed her. Ookamishin broke the kiss, suddenly pushing her away from him. Michera lost her balance and fell back, her long black hair and green kimono flapping in the breeze as she landed ungracefully on her back. She looked up at Ookamishin as he glared at her hatefully, nearly causing her to cower in fear. She didn't, but the fear was plainly visible on her face. Without a word, Ookamishin turned away and walked through the barrier he had created, causing it to shatter and dissipate leaving Michera sprawled out on the ground. Sesshoumaru and Inuyasha, who were both in shock from the fact that this wolf demon dared kiss their little sister, let Ookamishin walk right past them and away into the forest with Kouga beside him where he seemingly disappeared. 

Myouga was caught for words. Shippo just hung from Kagome's arms, bewildered at what had just gone on, while Kagome's jaw had dropped at the nerve of the wolf demon. Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru snapped out of their state of shock and rushed to Michera's side where she still sat on the ground, with her hands clasped over her heart. Sesshoumaru placed his hand on her shoulder, but she didn't respond. Inuyasha kneeled beside her and began to shake her while yelling, "Michera, MICHERA!!! Damn it girl, answer me! Are you okay?! ANSWER ME!!"

However, Michera was completely oblivious of her two brothers kneeling on either side of her, trying desperately to get her attention. She was preoccupied staring after Ookamishin, the wolf demon she had met some time before, who now wanted to own her. Old and painful memories she had tried to push out of her mind since she had finally escaped from captivity came rushing back to her, causing her vision to blur with tears. She just kept staring after him as tears flowed freely down her face from her shining golden eyes. She couldn't hear her brothers or their companions, including Sango, Miroku, and the little girl they found hiding in the woods, Rin as they yelled to get her attention. Painful memories were clouding over her consciousness causing her very little awareness of her brothers worrying over her to decrease as she swayed. Her world grew dark as she passed out in Inuyasha's arms with Sesshoumaru worrying over her and Kagome, Shippo and Myouga yelling for her to stay awake. 

Author's note:

So what do you think? I was having trouble thinking of a name for the other wolf demon, so I asked my friend, she recommended, Hang-Lang, which she says means Phantom Wolf. Please review and tell me if you think that is a good name for him, or if you have any suggestions. Thanks!

~Crystal Arrow

New Note~ 

As you can tell, I changed the name from Hang-Lang to Ookamishin. Well, I found out that the previous name was actually Chinese, which doesn't really help me, so another friend of mine told me to use Ookamishin or "wolf Heart" I think that's better, don't you? Thanks for reading!

~Crystal Arrow


	4. Chapter 3: Painful Secrets

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The Demon Bride

By Crystal Arrow

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Chapter 4: Painful Secrets

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or the other characters from that story; they belong to someone else who actually has talent. 

After Michera fainted, Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru argued on where to make camp, finally deciding to just stay where they were until their sister awoke. Presently, Michera was wrapped in a fine blanket provided by Sesshoumaru and curled up by the fire. On either side of her, her brothers sat with the fire between them. They glared at each other as Kagome and Sango, who had recently arrived with Miroku, talked quietly on the outskirts of camp, trying to guess where Michera could have been for the past many years. Miroku was behind Inuyasha with Shippo next to him silently observing Inuyasha's protectiveness of the strange demon girl whom neither Inuyasha or would allow him near for reasons quite obvious to those who know of the priests lecherous habits. Rin, who had been fetched from her hiding place during the battle after Michera passed out by Jaken, now was staring intently at the girl that her guardian was so protective of.

Jaken was off in the shadows somewhere mumbling about how he hated being around all these stupid humans. This left Rin unsupervised to do whatever she wished. Sadly, no one seemed to notice her, she had tried talking to every one: Kagome and Sango told her they were having an adult conversation and to go play, Miroku told her he was busy and to go play, and Shippo was just too confused to do anything but think, Jaken told her to get lost, and the only response she got from Inuyasha was a low protective growl that earned him a deadly glare from Sesshoumaru. This only left Sesshoumaru. 

After being growled at again by Inuyasha, Rin pouted. She plopped down between Sesshoumaru and the girl she hadn't seen yet which the two demons wouldn't stop fussing over. For a moment, she remained still as she stared into the fire. She shivered when a cold breeze from behind her chilled her to the bone. She looked up to see if her guardian noticed, only to find him staring into space, oblivious to her condition. She looked across at Inuyasha to find him uncaring if she was there or not. When she looked at the others around her, she found that none of them noticed her either. Still shivering, she hugged herself as a tear slid down her face, unnoticed by those around her.

Michera awoke just then and saw the tear fall from the little girl's face to splatter on her kimono. She saw her shivering in the cold, unnoticed by the adults around her. While keeping her breathing steady and soft, Michera looked up to see her brothers staring off into space. As quietly as possible, Michera got up and picked up the blanket she had been covered with and walked behind the crying little girl. Soundlessly, Michera sat next to Rin and wrapped her in the blanket. Upon feeling the blanket on her shoulders, Rin shrieked.

Sesshoumaru snapped out of his trance of thought and turned to see Rin grasping his arm. He noticed tear streaks on Rin's face but decided to get to that later. Next to her he saw Michera giggling softly at the child's response to her. Inuyasha simply looked at her, his brain trying to grasp the concept that she was awake. The others had looked towards the fire at Rin's shriek only to find the demon girl awake. Rin was now crying on Sesshoumaru's sleeve as Michera picked her up and wrapped her in the blanket like a baby. Rin shrieked again in fear and confusion as to why her guardian didn't save her. That was when she notice that she wasn't being harmed. Rin opened up her teary eyes to see a face similar to Sesshoumaru's smiling down at her. She blinked the tears out of her eyes and looked at the face above her more clearly. Rin noticed that the face looking down at her was younger, kinder and female. 

Michera spoke softly to Rin, cuddling her into slumber. She then placed Rin by the fire, wrapped in the blanket she had previously been wrapped in. She turned and glared at Sesshoumaru, "the poor thing was totally ignored,… A child requires attention, not neglect!"

Sesshoumaru quickly changed the subject and shot at her, "And you haven't told us what that obnoxious little wolf demon was talking about."

Michera turned ashen upon the mention of the earlier events. " I guess I can't escape what I am…"

By now, the entire camp had gathered around the fire. Michera looked at each of them in turn, pain visible in her eyes. Sesshoumaru asked patiently, " What was it all about?"

She gulped, after a few moments of silence, Michera began an explanation of what she now was. "I'm the Demon Bride. After father died, I was captured by a witch which was sure I had great powers within me. She placed an irremovable curse on me, for which I am made a slave or prisoner to whomever wins me. She restrained my powers and trained me to be the Demon Bride of legends, who possessed great powers, but was forced to give her powers to another. Upon the third full moon of my reaching maturity, a tournament will be held to determine the strongest demon who will possess my powers." She was silent for a minute, " Tonight is the first full moon."

Inuyasha simply gaped at her. Sesshoumaru stared, while others gaped as well. Inuyasha exploded, " YOU ARE WHAT??!?!?!"

"the demon bride…." Michera whispered. Her little gray ears were flat against her head in shame and her tail wrapped snuggly around her. Inuyasha was about to roar at his little sister, but Sesshoumaru silenced him with a threatening glance. 

Sesshoumaru turned to fully face his sister. He looked straight into her eyes and peered into her mind and soul. He could see her shame at being made the demon bride, the fear of her future, the pain she felt and still feels over the loss of her parents and separation from her brothers and the sadness brought by the loss of hope of ever being excepted by her brothers after bringing such shame unto the family and escaping this destiny. He saw her golden eyes sparkling with tears he could tell had been pent up for an eternity. Sesshoumaru always refrained from showing any emotion, but this would be an exception for the only other being he cared for like he cared for like Rin. 

Sesshoumaru drew Michera into a hug. Jaken was amazed that his lord was showing so much feeling. Inuyasha pouted while the others watched, shocked at this new side of their supposed enemy shown only for two people and usually in private, Michera and Rin. Sesshoumaru held Michera there as tears that had been held back for years spilled from her eyes faster than the a river flows. 

After a few minutes of allowing her to spill her emotions, Sesshoumaru pulled Michera away from him to look her in the face. His usually emotionless face wore a slight smile as he looked down at his only sister. Softly, he said to her, " You have no reason to feel you have shamed our family. I am proud of you, you were strong when others would have been weak, and it was you strength that won you the high place you now hold. You hold no shame."

Obviously, Inuyasha thought differently. Just as Michera was about to hug Sesshoumaru in thanks, Inuyasha yelled out his point of view. "NO SHAME!? OF COURSE YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED, THIS IDIOT'S JUST TRYING TO MAKE YOU FEEL BETTER! YOU'RE BEING SOLD OFF AS A WHORE!! HOW IS THAT NOT SHAMEFUL?!!?!?!?!" he roared.

Before Sesshoumaru could get up a kill his brother, or Miroku or Sango beat him for his stupidity, Kagome yelled out, "Sit, Sit, Sit! That is so rude! That is your own sister! She's more powerful than you and she saved your life, Jerk!! SIT SIT SIT SIT!!!!" Inuyasha was slammed into the ground upon the first round of 'sits' and he ended up a few inches into the ground after Kagome yelled at him and continued shouting 'sit' many, many, MANY more times afterwards until Sango and Miroku were forced to pull her back and gag her to make her stop shouting it before Inuyasha's back snapped under the pressure. It was hard work subduing her especially when Inuyasha kept cursing at her. 

Shippo sat wide-eyed on the other side of Sesshoumaru from Michera who had started crying again. Shippo had lost his fear of Sesshoumaru since Michera arrived and felt more comfortable with the calm lord over the mutt on the brink of unconsciousness before him. Shippo turned to Sesshoumaru and asked, "Is he dead?"

"We would only be so blessed." was his reply.

Rin had woken up upon the yells and shouts around her. When she saw Inuyasha several inches deep in the ground, she also turned to Sesshoumaru and asked, "Is the bad demon dead?"

"No."

"Oh…." she didn't quite believe him, because Inuyasha was twitching oddly, which was really scaring her. Rin noticed Michera crying. She hugged her to make her feel better, like she had done with her. Michera looked down at Rin and smiled. Rin smiled back as Michera dried her tears. The two girls then sat staring into the fire as the camp got reorganized after Inuyasha's outburst. Shippo sat on the other side of Michera when Sesshoumaru left to beat Inuyasha for his foul language, then leaving the three alone by the fire, all huddled close for warmth.

Several hours later, after Inuyasha had apologized and the camp had slept for a few hours, the different inhabitants of the battle ravaged clearing, Sesshoumaru, Jaken, Myouga, Inuyasha, Kagome, Sango, Miroku, Shippo, Rin and Michera once again gathered about the rebuilt fire to listen as Michera told the tale of her past from faint memories of birth to her capture by the witch that cursed her to fill in missing details to her loved ones, and reveal her identity to new friends. "So," she said, "this is where is began….."

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Author's Note:

Sorry it took so long to put up this chapter. I've been busy with the end of school. Now, school is over, so my stories will be picking up the pace!! The next few chapters will be in the past, just so you know, and I'm hoping to put the next chapter up this week. Please review to tell me what you think, even to tell me if you think it sucks, it motivates me to read your reviews. Thanks and please keep reading my story!

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~Crystal Arrow


	5. Chapter 4: Big Brother

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The Demon Bride

By Crystal Arrow

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Chapter 5: Big Brother

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or the other characters from that story; they belong to someone else who actually has talent. 

(Note: this is not starting out in Michera's point of view, it's starting from Sesshoumaru's point of view, just so you know.)

From within the great inutaiyokai's palace, I paced. Behind me, my annoying little brother imitated me, trying to look serious and strong. No matter how very much I picked on him and called him names, he still followed me around like a puppy,…wait a second, he is a puppy…. I hate my life. At present time, my father is off securing the boundaries of our territory, leaving me with his human wife and her half breed son, which happened to be following me around non-stop. 

Now, before you get confused, my mother's dead, the woman my father wants me to look to as my new mother is a weak, pathetic human princess. That means the little brat following me around is only half my brother… oh well, he could be cute, on very rare occasions. At the moment, I'm demon of the house, at fifteen years old. The little runt is four, and who knows or cares how old his mother is. 

While pacing, I stepped aside just before the wall, too quickly for my little brother to see, resulting in him running straight into the wall. He bounced back and fell on his tailless bottom, pouting…now that's cute. "Set-chan!!" he complained, looking up at me. I winced, I hate that nickname. 

"Inuyasha, please don't call me that, or else I will have to torture you." I said calmly.

"Okay, Set-chan!" with a sigh, I just gave up before I really did torture him. Inuyasha ran up behind me and clung to my tail. With another sigh, I ignored him as he bounced happily behind me as I headed towards his mother's chambers. As he bounced, his fire-rat fur kimono sagged and bounced with him, being too big for him, yet he always wore it because it made his mother smile, she made if you know. His little dog ears twitched in his happiness, that was another thing cute about him, those ears made it really hard to take Inuyasha seriously.

With a very small grin, I walked into his mother's chambers. His mother sat on the window sill, cradling her large stomach and humming a song. I leaned against the wall by the entrance as Inuyasha released my tail and ran to his mother. He cried out to her happily and clung to her skirt. She smiled down at him, then smiled at me, "How are my boys doing?" she asked kindly.

My smile disappeared, "I'm not your boy." Her smile vanished as well, as her eyes welled up with tears. Inuyasha growled defensively.

Rolling my eyes, I left the room to take a stroll in the gardens so I may have my thoughts to myself. I walked down many flights of stairs through dank hall ways lit only by torches from the interior of the palace. After a few minutes, I came to a hallway with windows. Out side, I could see the gardens, bright and colorful. I reached a gate in the hallway, and from their, exited into the garden. In the garden, I was met by the pleasing and relaxing scent of the various rare flowers that decorated it. With a deep breath, I relaxed my body and dropped the mask I always wore before others. 

I smiled as I walked, stopping sometimes to inspect some flowers and leaves I passed. _Life is so stressful. Father is off, he often does try to leave me alone with his new wife. As if that would get us to bond. He thinks I hate my new family… I don't, I just…I just… I miss my mother. How could he remarry so soon after her death? I don't want to bond with a new family…I liked my old one. But now I have a little brother, and his mother going bear another soon, most likely another annoying little half breed with no tail and dog ears. _I sigh. 

Continuing on my walk, I come across what was my mother's favorite part of the garden. After her death, it was neglected, but this year, I ordered for the gardeners to take care of it. Now, the roses are back to their former glory. _It's funny,_ _my mother always had me play here when I was small, but my new mother never let's Inuyasha play around the roses for fear that he would hurt himself on the thorns. Wait……did I just call her my mother? I'm so confused. I care about her, but I don't want her to replace my mother. Why me?_

With a hopeless sigh, I stop before the fountain in the center of the rose garden. Rose vines covered the whole thing, a truly beautiful sight, all the different colored roses in bloom over this ugly piece of stone meant to reflect beauty. I looked down into the still water of the inactivated fountain at my reflection. _People always said I was the spitting image of my mother, and I am. My mother was extremely beautiful and graceful. I have her traits in height, grace and beauty, which often gets me mistaken for a woman by the pathetic fools who don't know me to be the heir to the western lands. It's actually sort of funny. I was basically all of my mother, in my father. Like my father, I had golden eyes, silver hair, the sign of the moon. However, Inuyasha was the spitting image of my father with dog ears and lack of tail. That was probably why father gave him his namesake of dog. That's another thing, I'm often mistaken as a cat demon, now that is sad. _

I laugh, because life is funny that way. Suddenly, I hear giggling. I turn, once again replacing my mask to face Inuyasha's mother. She was giggling at me. I was about to frown at her when she embraced me in a hug. Shocked, I forgot to frown. " Sesshoumaru," she said to me, "I know you don't want to accept me, but please understand, I don't want to replace your mother in your heart, or in your father's. I just want a place there, as a friend."

She released me from the awkward hug. She smiled at me. " Where's Inuyasha?" I asked.

"What, are you worried about him?" When I looked at her skeptically, she laughed again. "I put him down for his nap. He was getting to be an armful, wasn't he?"

"You think?" I replied sarcastically. 

She only smiled at me. "That's why I like you Sesshoumaru. You're not afraid to speak your mind."

"Humph." I snorted.

Giggling again, she hooked her arm in mine and asked, " Will you accompany me to greet your father at the gate?" 

"How long have you known he was coming?" I asked, having sensed him long ago back when Inuyasha was following me around in the study. 

"Since I saw him as I came to see you at the gardens… your mother's roses truly are beautiful. If I let Inuyasha play there, not only would he scratch himself up, but he would ruin the roses, and that would be a shame."

My eyes widened, _She cared about my mother's roses?………I may never accept her as my mother, but that was not what she was asking, she was asking for my approval. _I smiled up at her, since I still had a bit to grow at my age, which was still young for a demon. I turned to my mother's roses. Looking over them, I found one. It was a very rare breed of rose. Most of these color of roses ended up small a bloomed differently, not quite as prettily as the others. However, this rose had been my favorite as a pup, and still was. It was a large white rose in full bloom. I used my claws and cut the thorns from the stem, hiding what I was doing from my stepmother. I then cut the thorn less rose from the bush and turned back to her. 

Upon handing her the rose, her eyes welled up with tears. She hugged me, something I welcomed, now that she was a part of my family, even if she was a human. Taking her arm in mine, I escorted her out of the garden to greet my father at the gates where he smiled proudly at me, for finally letting go and loving again.

Gathered around the fire, the group wiped tears from their eyes. "That is just so sweet!" Kagome cried.

Sesshoumaru frowned. _Why me?_ "Lord Sesshoumaru!" Rin called to him from his side, "That is so nice!" 

Michera smiled as her older brother got into a more and more sour mood. "Michera," Shippo asked. "Why are you telling your story from Sesshoumaru's point of view?" 

"Because that makes it clearest." She answered.

Beside her, Inuyasha pouted, "Why not from my point of view? I'm barely in the story!" Kagome pat his shoulder comfortingly.

"Because you were so young then that you don't have this etched into your memory very well." came her response.

"Excuse me, Lady Michera." Miroku asked, "But how do you know it from his point of view?"

"Because he told me, now if all of you would just shut up and listen, I could get on with it. All of you are so jumpy… Inuyasha, don't start, you were too young to do anything of great importance so just shut up." Michera said. Inuyasha, who had just opened his mouth to complain as to why she didn't ask him his point of view, shut it again with a pout.

"Milady, would you please continue?" asked Myouga politely.

"Certainly, so Sesshoumaru and his stepmother met his father at the gate. His father was proud, but he had bad news, a fortune teller foretold a curse upon the family, which would cost a high price… life."

Author's note:

Okay, okay, so I didn't get it out last week. I just wrote this all today while the site was down. I'm sorry, but the site being down just plain annoys me. Well, perhaps it was good for me, instead of reading, I started a new story, which I beg for you to read and review, "Lone Wolf", wrote my first songfic, "Wonderful" and wrote this chapter! I guess it was good for, which is why I didn't like it.

~Crystal Arrow


	6. Chapter 5: A Cursed Birth

****

The Demon Bride

By Crystal Arrow

Chapter 6: A Cursed Birth

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or the other characters from that story; they belong to someone else who actually has talent. 

Several weeks had passed since Sesshoumaru had finally accepted his father's new wife as part of the family. He now paced worriedly outside of his mother's room behind his father. Inuyasha paced behind him, worried and scared by the painful screams he heard from his mother within her room. The three dog demons heard another painful scream. The human's labor had started a day ago, the child had yet to be born. 

Sesshoumaru's father was deep in thought. _This shouldn't be happening, not like this. _He glanced up at the door as yet another painful cry reached his sensitive ears. _That damn witch that cursed my family, I should have killed her all those years ago, now she is just too powerful…_ Still pacing, the three dog demons worried for the human that occupied their hearts.

You see, many years ago, Sesshoumaru's father left a witch that had caused trouble in his lands only half dead. Now, she had returned, and was very near invincible. While the lord of the lands was securing his boundaries several weeks ago, he'd come across that same witch. Before he could do anything to stop her, she cursed his entire family through him. The witch had cried out in fury at him, "Curse you, you filthy dog! For what you did to me, your family will suffer… your third child, which I've heard will be nothing but a stupid hanyou, will die like the scum it will be upon it's first breath of air. Curse you, for your child will die a death more painful than what you inflicted upon me you bastard!" The lord remembered the blinding light and insistent screeching coming from within the witch's cave as he ran out, however, he already knew, that curse was real, his third child will die. 

Now, after many hours waiting for the arrival of this child doomed to die, all the pain seemed to be inflicted upon his wife, not the child. Suddenly, the demons heard an especially loud cry of pain, followed by a weak cry from an infant. Their ears perked up, the child was alive. The demon lord, followed by his two sons burst into the bed chambers to find their mother weak. A lady in waiting to her held the child within her arms, as she handed the child to the lord, you could it's mother whisper weakly, "Where's my baby? I want my baby…"

The demon lord removed the blankets from around his newest pup. Just as he was about to completely reveal the child before him, he recalled one of the specific things he had heard the witch mumbling about before she cursed him. '_The Bastard's expecting a child, is he?' the witch grumbled beneath her breath. 'We'll just have to see about that. Should he have a son, which I'm sure the bastard will, I'll kill the disgusting thing. But what if not?………oooohhhohoho, I have much more in store for a girl, oh so much more!' _He remembered hearing the witch cackling something about having plans for whatever hanyou bitch he may produce, but he couldn't not understand her words. Does that mean she won't kill my pup if it's a girl? He thought.

He brushed the blanket aside, holding his breath in prayer. He looked down, and gasped. The pup he held had dog ears, as would be expected from a hanyou, but, it also had a tail, something a hanyou would never have, meaning the pup was more demon than human. The pup's scant fur was blackish gray, unlike his, and… she was alive. "My love," he heard his wife call from her bed, "please, how's my baby?" 

The demon lord turned towards his wife, once again wrapping the pup up in the thickness of the blanket. He found his wife weak in bed, his elder son seated on a chair beside her, with his younger son perched on his lap. Inuyasha looked up at him worriedly, having heard about the curse foretelling the death of this pup. Sesshoumaru looked up at him, waiting. The lord looked down at his pup, something wasn't right, she didn't cry, she didn't open her eyes, her breathing was labored. Just as he was about to ask the maid to call the medicine man, his daughter opened her eyes and gazed at him. With strong golden eyes, she pierced his heart and soul. With a smile he turned to his family and answered his wife's question. "She is strong, but very tired, she is beautiful darling. She seems more demon than human, but she looks a lot like you, and my late…. Wife…"

He looked to Sesshoumaru. _he didn't… then what?_ He was snapped from his thoughts at his wife's relieved laughter. She held her arms out for her baby. Quite confused, the lord placed the pup in the human's arms. The woman smiled down at the child. "My beautiful baby, you're gorgeous." She didn't notice as her mate left the room to summon the medicine man. She was too happy, for when the curse was placed she could feel something happen to her baby. She knew she was going to bear another son, and what she felt was the curse taking effect. However, she also knew why her child was alive. The curse had called for the daughter to survive. When Sesshoumaru had given her that rose, he had saved his sibling from death. For from that beautiful white rose, Sesshoumaru's mother's spirit came to her and changed the child within her to be partly her daughter as well. "she told me my son would not survive. She said, that if this spell would work, this would be her child as well. Thank you… thank you so much. In honor of your second mother," she said to her daughter, "I will name you Michera, my little demon girl."

Inuyasha was just plain confused, however Sesshoumaru understood. From the rose he had given her, his mother's spirit had visited this woman and added a bit of herself to the unborn child. His half sister, he realized, should have been another half brother, but his mother made her his three quarters sister. It was amazing. You wonder how he knows it was his mother? Michera was the name the lady of the western lands had told her son she would name her daughter, should she ever have one. Her daughter now lay before him. _I want to see her, if she is my mother's daughter, as well as this woman's daughter, I want to see her!_

As if to grant is wish, his new mother smiled at him just before she drifted to sleep with Michera in her arms. As her arms grew limp, allowing the pup to slip away from her, Sesshoumaru picked her up. Inuyasha peaked over Sesshoumaru's arm to see his new sister. What they gazed upon was a beautiful girl. Her little gray ears were adorable, and her gray tail, still wet, had started to puff up a bit from where is was wrapped about her tiny body. She gazed at each of her brothers in turn with those powerful golden eyes you would not expect to see on an infant. With a giggle, Inuyasha stated, "she's kinda cute."

With a soft snort, Sesshoumaru shoved his little brother off of him, "What do you mean, she's not kind of cute," Inuyasha frowned, thinking his brother was going to call the infant ugly, however, he was surprised as his elder brother then rubbed his head with his fist. "She's very cute." With a giggle, Inuyasha pushed his brother's hand away only to be met with a swat of his brother's fluffy tail. "Now go to bed, it's late."

"Aaww, but Set-chan, I want to stay with the baby." Inuyasha complained.

"Well isn't that too bad. It's late, go to bed." With a whip of his tail, Sesshoumaru sent Inuyasha tumbling out of the room.

Inuyasha's mother giggled, "You were always so kind to your little brother."

"I thought you were asleep"

"I was, but I woke up… isn't she beautiful Set-chan?" 

Sesshoumaru nodded in agreement as he gave his finger to the baby, who in turn grasped it with her tiny fingers from which extended human nails. As Sesshoumaru was about to see if she had any claws at all, she extended tiny razor sharp claws into his hand like a cat would do. With a yowl of shock and pain, Sesshoumaru tried to pull his finger away from her only to find she had an incredibly strong grip for a newborn pup. Giggling again, pup's human mother held out her hands for her baby into which Sesshoumaru gladly deposited his newborn sister. As her mother took hold of her, Michera let go of her prickly grasp on her elder siblings poor finger. Sesshoumaru looked at it, to find five little puncture marks with a bead of blood forming in each.

With a pout, Sesshoumaru licked away the blood, while her mother giggled. He looked down at her from his perch on the chair next to her only to quickly look away as the pup's mother opened up the top of her loose bed kimono to feed the pup. Instead he listened as she quietly talked to the infant, telling her how she should be careful of her strength, and how she was doing so good not to bite while she fed as Inuyasha had done so often. Sesshoumaru stayed by his stepmother's side for the entire night as she dozed to sleep, in which he would take the sleeping pup from her mother's arms to rock her gently and whisper to her tales of strength and courage that he remembered from his birth mother. 

That was where the demon lord found his son the following morning, seated next to his mate with his newest pup in his arms. He couldn't help but smile as he saw Michera chewing on the edge of Sesshoumaru's kimono sleeve. Gently removing his pup from his son's grasp, and he sent him off to bed as the first ray's of sunlight lit the chambers. 

Sesshoumaru slept for the first part of the day, until noon, at which time he visited his mother and new sibling. After lunch, he somehow managed to entertain his brother for the rest of the day as their parents fussed over the new pup. Things were so peaceful for the following days, however, three weeks after the pup's birth, she became deathly ill. All of the best doctors from throughout the western lands came, but found no cure for the pup's illness. Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru spent much or their time alone, as Michera drew closer and closer to death. At four months old, Michera was scarcely ever awake, and constantly lingering between life and death. Inuyasha was sent away to his father's cousins to be cared for, and the demon lord himself left to find a cure for his pup's illness. Sesshoumaru stayed constantly by his step mother's side as she took care of her dying child. 

Sesshoumaru, the emotionless demon lord of the west, once fretted over his dying sister. His most prominent memories, he recalls, were of times with his step mother, brother and sister. Sometimes, Inuyasha would be recalled from his relative's homes to stay by his mother's side. It was these times, while his step mother sat in a chair before a roaring fireplace with Michera wrapped warmly in her arms, Inuyasha asleep in Sesshoumaru's arms where Sesshoumaru sat on the floor beside his stepmother's chair. Sesshoumaru would lean his head against her side and listen as Inuyasha breathing softly in his sleep, his chest slowly rising and falling in his peaceful slumber. He would feel the steady heartbeat of his mother and the child so close to him, the mother's strong, and the child's weak and faltering. But most of all he remembers the songs the woman would sing in her sorrow. They were so sorrowful, and peaceful. His heart wretched every time he saw her cry as she sang softly to the child in her arms, the warm light of the fire lighting and shadowing her beautiful face and the orange glow of the sunset painting her hair brilliant shades of orange and red as her tears fell upon her child sparkling like gold in the firelight.

However, nothing broke his heart more, than when he was alone with her, Inuyasha gone to be taken care of by other family. She would stop crying, and though he could sense so much sorrow within her, she seemed unable to cry any longer. One of her songs, so sad it was, remains imprinted in his memories, a beautiful sorrowful song, Michera never heard.

__

It's been so long since I stopped crying,

Over _the thought of losing you._

My lovely angel, this song you'll never hear

You hear me not as I sing for you.

It's been so long since I stopped crying,

For my all tears have long been shed.

So now I only dream of the times we could have shared

If only you were alive my dear.

It's been so long since I stopped crying,

For I know your happier far from here.

In fields of roses under bright blue skies of dreams,

From lands of heaven from which you came.

It's been so long since I stopped crying,

Over the thought of losing you,

The only sadness that I will ever feel ,

Is that 

You will never

Hear this song,

Of my love for you…

Author's note:

Took me a while to finish this chapter, it's one of my more depressing chapters. Please tell me what you think of the song (which I wrote, thank you), called 'Crying'. I'll be getting another chapter of 'Lone Wolf' out before I get another chapter of this one, so be patient, it may be very quick. Please Review!!

~Crystal Arrow


	7. Chapter 6: The Awakening

****

The Demon Bride

By Crystal Arrow

Chapter 7: The Awakening

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or the other characters from that story; they belong to someone else who actually has talent. 

Many weeks passed, yet Michera still did not recover. She sometimes lingered so close to death, that she would be mistaken as dead by the chamber maids. Had Michera been awake, she would have been celebrating her tenth month of life, but instead she lay in an unending sleep in her mother's arms. For her age, Michera was incredibly small, yet somehow stayed alive. 

It was on the morning of the tenth month of Michera's life that she stopped breathing. Her mother had gone to her crib and found her deathly pale, her chest still and lifeless. Her mother said nothing, but walked into the gardens with her dead child in her arms. The residents of the palace all turned towards her as she passed, then swiftly turned away as they realized that the child was dead. One by one, the servants left the gardens, leaving only the mother and her child. 

Sesshoumaru approached his stepmother with Inuyasha following close behind. They stopped several yards away from her and just watched her, both having already heard the fate that had befallen their sister. 

Michera's mother knelt before the rose plants that grew in that part of the garden with Michera cradled in her arms. With her head bowed, she preyed silently to the spirit of Sesshoumaru's mother to aid her in keeping their daughter alive. As if it was a sign, a single white rose petal fell from the plant and landed softly on Michera's head. She remained there for several more minutes before she abruptly got up and left back to her chambers. Without a sound , Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru followed.

In complete silence they watched as their mother sang one last lullaby to her lifeless child before setting her down in her crib once more, completely wrapped within her blankets to leave nothing of her showing. Their mother sang one last song, which she'd never sung before as she gazed down upon Michera's lifeless face.

__

Now should this be our destiny,

Granted by the fates,

To bid farewell in spring morning's fine wake.

I'll take the blessing, of having you,

And bid thee our last goodbye. 

I pray only that you heard this last lullaby

Before leaving me behind

For each song I sang to you in your sleep

Was a prayer for you to stay.

But since you've already left me here

Simply allow me to say

Each song I sang, I pray you heard

Was my way to say I love you.

So goodnight, this one last time

As morning lights your face,

Goodbye from this world, you never knew

Farewell, I love you.

She cried as she covered Michera's face with the blanket. Inuyasha wept into Sesshoumaru's pant leg as Sesshoumaru himself shed silent tears in farewell to his infant sister as his stepmother collapsed onto her bed and cried herself to sleep. For the rest of that day, all was silent as news of his pup's death reached the ears of the demon lord of the west. Sesshoumaru spent the greater part of the day caring for a grief stricken Inuyasha.

As the sun set that night, giving rise to the full moon, Sesshoumaru put Inuyasha to sleep then left to his step mother's chambers once again. He found the room empty, his stepmother having been taken back into his father's chambers now that she had no child to care for. From the doorway, Sesshoumaru gazed at the now cold fireplace where he had sat by his stepmother through her sadness. Moonlight flooded the room, leaving only the darkest of the corners unlit by the eerie light of the moon. Right across from one of the large windows was the pup's crib. Moonlight lit up the entire crib, making it easy for Sesshoumaru's to tell that the pup's body had yet to be removed. With a sigh Sesshoumaru turned and was about to leave the room when he heard something.

Sesshoumaru spun around, his silver hair flying wildly at the sudden movement. Listening carefully, he was able to hear little yips and cooing coming from within the room. He quietly stalked into the room, following the sounds he heard. His eyes grew wide in shock as he realized they were coming from the crib! He ran up to the side of the crib, afraid that something may be feeding upon the corpse of his little sister. When he looked into the crib, he saw the bundle of blankets as they were before, nothing else in the crib. 

Just as he was about to turn away to search elsewhere for the source of the sound, he saw a raggedy black tail twitching from side to side from out of the blankets. Eyes wide, Sesshoumaru carefully drew back the blankets from Michera's body. To his great surprise, he found Michera cooing at him, hugging her tail with bright golden eyes shining. "Michera?" he asked in confusion. Wasn't she dead? Sesshoumaru reached down into the crib to pick up the pup. As his hand came close, Michera grabbed onto one of his fingers, her tiny claws extracting and stabbing into his finger. "Oowww, yeah, that's definitely you." he cried out happily. After carefully prying his finger free of her claws he picked her up and gazed at her, smiling. He spun around and ran out of the room, yelling at the top of his lungs, "FATHER!!!! FATHER!! MOTHER!!!!!! MICHERA'S ALIVE, SHE'S ALIVE!!!!"

Down the hall, the demon lord came out of his room, his wife close behind him. Truly shocked, he stared down at the pup in his son's arms. She gazed back up at him, tail twitching curiously. Her little gray ears swiveled back as she tilted her head to the side. As the demon lord gazed down at his pup, he recognized something he hadn't seen in her eyes before. Her left eye had a speck of green hidden amongst the golden depths while her right eye appeared more gold with a brownish bronze glow to it. He knew very well that there were no green eyes in his or his wife's lines. However, his wife did have a bronze glow to her deep brown eyes. There was no green in any of their families, except for his previous wife, Sesshoumaru's mother. She had brilliant green eyes. But… he glanced back at his human wife questioningly. She glanced down into her now live daughter's eyes and saw what her husband saw, and only smiled. She saw the green hidden in her eyes, just like she saw that white rose petal hidden within the blankets around Michera's face. 

"Whoa, whoa, wait a minute," Kagome interrupted, "do you mean to tell us that you came back from the dead?"

"Yes."

"Well then," Sango reasoned, "How do we know that you really are Inuyasha's sister?"

With an exasperated sigh, Michera answered, "If you would let me finish, then you would know." She glared at Kagome and Sango while Inuyasha snickered, which earned him an even more deadly glare. The snickering stopped immediately. 

"I'll continue then." 

The following day, Michera was officially introduced as the princess of the western lands. Noble demons from across Japan came to the demon lord's palace to see the child that came back from the dead. One demon was suspicious to Michera's bloodline. The demon lord laughed at his foolishness. He called the other demons to come around to prove his daughter's bloodline. He and his wife stood by each other as the demon sniffed their scent. The demon then sniffed Michera for their scents within her, and found them, but also another scent hidden amongst them. He demanded to know what it was. For that, Sesshoumaru came forth with a necklace wrapped in silk. He held it delicately before the demon, who sniffed it, and found the scent of Sesshoumaru's mother on it, which he identified within Michera. 

The demon stared down at Michera in amazement, for he knew that she had a third spiritual parent, not Sesshoumaru, for he was too young for it to be possible. Michera was revived by her own step mother, it was a miracle. 

"Oh wow, that's amazing!" Shippo cried out. The moon shone overhead as the group chattered in wonder. Sesshoumaru stayed silent, and only gazed at his little sister. _She's a great story teller, I wonder where she got it. And those songs, she knew them………… did she actually hear her mother in her sleep?_

Miroku stoked the fire back to it's former glory. The stars were shining, and a cool breeze chilled the air. Miroku looked up from the fire and asked, "What happened after that?"

Michera giggled, "We grew up. The word of me died out and I grew up normally among much feuding between my brothers over me. It was cute. At four years old though, everything changed. What I will tell you next is what you really need to know, the demise of my parents. Sesshoumaru, Inuyasha, and my life was completely destroyed when the witch that cursed me came and kept her word………"

Author's note:

Sorry it took me a while to get this chapter up. I know it's been in the past for a really long time, but just one or two more chapters and the story will be back in present times, meaning feudal age, you know what I mean. I'll try to get the next chapter soon. Please! Review!

~Crystal Arrow


	8. Chatper 7: The Attack

****

The Demon Bride

By Crystal Arrow

Chapter 8: The Attack

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or the other characters from that story; they belong to someone else who actually has talent. 

At four years old, little Michera was indisputably the most adorable pup the lord of the Western Lands had. She was brave, witty and strong much like Inuyasha, yet still fair fast and smart like her half brother Sesshoumaru. With wild silver tinted black hair, cute gray ears and scraggly tail, she easily captured the hearts of any yokai, whether it despised humans and hanyous or not.

It was another day in the lives of the three dog demon pups. As usual, with Inuyasha, approaching ten years old, and Sesshoumaru, approaching twenty, the two elder pups were arguing over their beloved little sister.

"She's my sister!" Inuyasha yelled.

"Yeah right, brat, like she would want to be your sister, she's my sister, and she loves me more!" Sesshoumaru shot back coolly.

Inuyasha was boiling with rage, "She's half demon, like me, so she's my sister whether you agree or not!"

"Sure, whatever you say runt, like that makes her your sister." the elder brother answered.

Little Michera watched both sides carry on for several minutes curiously. Finally growing bored with it, she said softly, "I'm bored, if you don't mind, I'm going to go play." With that, she skipped away, leaving the two brothers arguing. They carried on as such for several more minutes until they finally realized that Michera had taken leave. With one final glare, they set out as a team to locate the lost sibling before their mother found out they had let her out of their sight again. The arguments were regular occurrences, happening at least several times a day. One wouldn't worry unless they didn't argue. 

Michera had been watching them from her perch in a tree, but she had fallen asleep. Therefore when she felt Inuyasha grab her from behind, she awoke in fear and fell from the tree straight into Sesshoumaru's arms. This was another normal day the three siblings, playing hide and seek, tag and arguing. But today would end differently, very much so. Today was the end of their lives together, and the beginning of a legacy to last for decades, that of the Demon's Bride, the key to power.

The dog demon lord of the west ran for the first time in his life. He had hoped this day wouldn't come, but it had. The witch that cursed his family had sent a wolf yokai, the most powerful he had ever seen, to kill off his family and take his daughter. Blood flowed freely from the demon lords vicious wounds all over his body. He could sense the wolf behind him, but gaining fast. He had to warn his family before it was too late!

Sesshoumaru and Inuyasha returned home from play after noon. Michera was napping in Sesshoumaru's arms as them entered the furnished cave which the dog demon family used as a summer home. From what looked like a plain whole in the wall of a cliff sprouted a finished interior that branched a mile inwards. The first room was open to the outdoors. Within it was their mother, where she sat peacefully on the ground sewing a new kimono for Michera. Inuyasha plopped down beside his mother, the oversized fire rat coat she had made for him pooling around him. As Sesshoumaru placed Michera in a corner mat to continue her nap, their mother showed Inuyasha the kimono she was sewing. The cloth was woven from fine silk like green fire rat fur. It was sized for a woman near her own size, meant to be for Michera when she grew up much like Inuyasha's oversized red one, yet designed for combat and activeness with feminine grace.

All was peaceful within the cool cave as the mother sewed and the sons fought (really, what did you expect?), until near the speed of light, the demon lord raced into the cave. He was worn and bloodied, his clothing torn and ragged. He panted only momentarily to regain his breath before shouting out, "Hurry and leave. Danger is approaching. I want all of you to leave this place, but stay away from the palace. Take nothing. I SAID LEAVE NOW!"

Shocked out of their senses, they stood before him. Only when Sesshoumaru retrieved Michera from the corner and made for the exit did Inuyasha and his mother react. The lady dropped her sewing immediately and took Inuyasha's hand in her own. After one brief kiss farewell to her mate, she left without question, fully understanding what was going on. It would have been a silent farewell had Michera not woken up. She saw her father's retreating figure in the distance and called out to him from where she struggled in Sesshoumaru's arms, but all in vain. He continued to run at his stepmother's side, paying no heed to her cries. Michera knew trouble was about, as did they all, but nothing prepared her for her destiny of what was to come. It was the beginning of the end of her life, and nothing could stop that.

Blood dripped from the demon lord's robes, creating a puddle of it around him where he stood. He awaited anxiously for the coming of his enemies, his energy barely staying within his grasp. In the distance he could here the retreating foot steps of his mate and pups, all of whom he would never see again. Then, with the rustling of the underbrush around the cave, the demon wolf, fully transformed into a giant black wolf, emerged before him. The wolf was strong, obviously from a territory outside of Japan with a league of strength all it's own.

With a feral growl, the demon lord transformed himself into a giant white dog. The blood still flowed from open wounds and the weariness was obvious despite the demon lord's proud defensive stance before his home. The wind was near nothing, everything was completely still, yet more and more smaller wolves, the pack of the black wolf, were appearing out of the underbrush until finally he was completely surrounded. The only new arrival as the dog and wolf faced off was an old witch from far to the north. Her clothes were near nothing but rags tied together around her body and her skin matched that of a toad's full of blotches and warts. The witch cackled evilly as she pointed her clawed finger at the demon lord below her, "Now I shall have my revenge!! Kill him and all of his pups, leave none of his blood alive!!"

"NO!!!" the demon lord roared as the wolves that had surrounded him left on the trail of his mate and pups. "Teruhi, don't you dare do this!"

"And who's to stop me? You?" Teruhi cackled at the thought, then stopped abruptly. With a glare, she ordered the black wolf to kill the demon lord, and as though the wolf were being controlled by the witch, Teruhi, he attacked.

Sesshoumaru tried desperately to make his step mother run faster, but to no avail. Inuyasha and her were left behind no matter how hard he tried to make them go faster, and it didn't help that Inuyasha refused to leave his mother out of his sight. At the rate they were going, they would be caught, and guess what, they were.

Racing from behind, the wolves quickly gained ground in the race to kill the demon lord's mate and blood. Michera could only watch in horror from her place in Sesshoumaru's arms as her mother threw Inuyasha away from her and turned to face the approaching demons. Before she could even scream, Sesshoumaru had killed dozens of wolves that approached him and Inuyasha. Several minutes later, the wolves had retreated into the surrounding underbrush where they waited to attack again. 

Their mother lay dying on the ground, mortally wounded by the attack. Sesshoumaru, Inuyasha and Michera kneeled around her as she gave her final orders. "Sesshoumaru, take your siblings to safety, leave me, and let them survive." 

"No! I won't leave you Mama!!" Inuyasha cried.

"Inuyasha, you must go! Sesshoumaru, take him, please!"

Silent and obedient, Sesshoumaru got up and began to walk away. "Inuyasha, Michera let's go." he ordered.

"NO!!! Mama we won't leave you!" Inuyasha cried as he tried to lift his mother. "Sesshoumaru you coward, help me!"

"My babies, I love you, but you must survive, LEAVE ME!" their mother choked out around the blood in her throat. She glanced up at Sesshoumaru pleadingly. He understood, before Inuyasha could react, Sesshoumaru had knocked him unconscious and swung him on his shoulder. The lady struggled to lift her bloodied hand to Michera's face. "My …baby, …run……" With that the lady of the west fell limp into the darkness of death, her hand falling from her daughter's face leaving a red blood stain upon her pale white cheeks. 

Michera had been completely silent, no tears, no crying. Sesshoumaru took her hand and began to lead her away. They had covered several meters when Michera's emotions finally kicked into gear. She slipped her hand from her elder brother's grasp and ran with all her might back to the cave. "DADDY!!" she cried. She ran, and Sesshoumaru followed, but then Sesshoumaru stopped. Before him was a barrier, a lock around the summer cave his father placed to keep his children from returning when they fled in such an occasion as now. Sesshoumaru could no longer enter, nor Michera exit, she was gone. As her small figure faded into the distance, a single tear, the first and last for years to come, rolled down his cheek as he turned and stalked away, never to see his beloved sister again.

__

Author's note:

Sorry this chapter took so long to post, I've been really busy, since I'm such a genius, I just had to take all of the hard classes. Sigh… Oh well, I'm finally getting into the swing of school again, so the chapters should come at least one a week now.

~Crystal Arrow


	9. Chapter 8: End of Childhood

****

The Demon Bride

By Crystal Arrow

Chapter 9: The End of childhood…

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or the other characters from that story; they belong to someone else who actually has talent. 

Michera ran, she ran faster than she had ever run before in her life towards her families summer home in the distance. _I smell blood, a lot of it, Daddy's blood!!_ She ran faster, a small dark blur running towards her lost home, following the scent of her father's blood. In the distance, she could see her father, he was fighting another demon, a stronger demon who was about to defeat him. But Michera couldn't allow that, her father was the strongest demon in the west, she had to save him! 

Michera came to a screeching halt in front of her father, tail and hair flowing in the wind among the folds of her excessively big kimono. As the dust settled about her small form in front of her huge father in canine form, the witch Teruhi gasped, "Why, it's you….." 

The black wolf demon growled at the runt that was the interruption of his kill. Michera visibly winced in fear of the large demon, over twenty times her size. Behind her, her father growled back at him. "Michera…" he growled under his breath, "You shouldn't have come."

Michera knew she should have stayed with her brothers, especially since now, she was trapped in a no win situation surround by many incredibly strong wolves who had followed her back from the site of her mother's death. But Michera wouldn't admit that, she had to stay with her father no matter what! "But Daddy!" Michera cried, "I want to be with you, Mommy fell down and she made Sessy and Inu-chan leave without me when I ran, because I don't want them to hurt you daddy!!"

A cackle sounded evilly from behind the wolf. "Aw, how sweet, the little baby come to save her father…there's no chance!" Her voice changed dramatically from mocking to fearsome as Teruhi roared, "Kill the dog bastard and take the child!" 

With that cry both the dog and the wolf lunged at each other snarling, over the small pup beneath them. The wolf jumped lower than the demon lord, taking his opponent's throat into his blood thirsty jaws. As they passed each other, a ripping sound could be heard, then they landed once more, facing each other. The large black wolf stood, one side of his face ripped and cut by the demon lord's claws. However the demon lord lay collapsed upon the ground, thick demonic blood spilling from his torn and shredded throat. The wound was mortal, the demon lord was dying. "DADDY!!!" Michera screamed in agony as her father had landed.

"Now, wolf finish your job and take the child!" Teruhi ordered, her long spindly nail pointing straight for Michera. The wolf shook his head viciously, splattering his own blood on his surroundings. 

"Michera…", the demon lord whispered hoarsely, "Run, run away… go while you still can, …GO!" But Michera didn't listen she rose, clear and absolutely pure tears spilling down upon her tiny hands, now covered in her father's blood. Flicking her head and her bangs up, she glared at the wolf, golden eyes glistening as tears fell down her flushed cheeks. A tiny, barely audible growl to the wolf was being emitted from Michera's tiny form as she glared at the wolf viciously. 

You could almost see the wolf shake in laughter at the pup's attempts to frighten him away. "Michera… no...please…run….." Her father whispered, that little bit of voice alone causing him immense pain. 

The evil witch, Teruhi laughed again as the wolf's laughter turned dark snarl as he leapt at the small pup before him. However, mid-flight, the wolf was stopped. Michera had lifted her hand to point her tiny needle like claws at him crying out, "Daggers of tears!!" The tears that had fallen upon her hand were projected at the wolf demon in a massive blast of energy, mid-flight. The tears were turned into long streaks of crystal or ice that flew at the wolf as an amazing speed, shattering within him and on him as they impacted with him. 

The force of the long crystalline daggers and the energy blown at him blasted back into the cliff side. He fell to the earth sliding down the crumbling cliff side that was now completely destroyed. And so the wolf lay dust of rocks and crystal settling around him to reveal him weak and dying. There were long and deep gashes within his flesh, pieces of crystal and ice inside each, expanding and stabbing at him with each passing second along with the surrounding boulders that had fallen from the cliff side he smashed in, that had crushed his bones, his back, and his spirit. All was silent around the clearing as bright green eyes blinked at the dying form of their leader. The black wolf was the leader of the almighty western pack of wolves, and his pack wouldn't take the dishonor of accepting a weak leader. A low growling echoed throughout the clearing, deep and menacing, it neither lessened nor increased. 

"Father!!" a young voice cried out form within the growling. As Michera lost her power and collapsed next to her father's dying form, a young black wolf emerged from the underbrush. He wouldn't have been any older than her older brother Inuyasha, but he held the air of her other brother, Sesshoumaru.

The young wolf knelt by his father's side, suppressing grief and anger within himself as he tried to honor his father in the very little time he had left. "My son….…" The wolf lord whispered with his last breath before his bright green eyes faded and closed forever. 

"Father!!!" the pup cried out in anguish, suppressed tears now flowing freely down his face. He buried his face in his father's mane to stifle his cries, with little success. Michera watched him from her father's side, her petite form engulfed in her father's bloodied fur. Her golden auburn eyes shown with tears, her own feeling equal to those of the boy nearby, for her own father had also faded into death during her attack, leaving her an orphan as well. 

The wolf pup's sobs slowly faded away as Teruhi, the witch that caused of all this pain, cackled in her especially evil way. " Oh Ookamishin!!" She laughed harshly, "So nice of you to join us!" _Ookamishin…… I'm so sorry, I caused your pain. _Michera thought sadly. "However, you are no longer of use to me, so………bye bye!" With that the wolves in the surrounding brush who once loyally followed Ookamishin's father, who now did the bidding of the Teruhi pounced upon the hapless pup. He yelped in pain as sharp claws pierced his young flesh, aiming to kill him. 

Ookamishin ran, his small feet barely carrying him three feet before another wolf landed upon, attacking him mercilessly. "Enough! I have no further need of you" Teruhi spat out just as a large gray wolf was about to tear the young pup's throat out. "Go." The pack left without a sound, not even turning to look back at the pup they had once honored as their lord. Ookamishin lay, beaten and bloodied on the ground. He fell back to the ground with each attempt he made to rise. Teruhi watched him with a cold eye as he made one final attempt to rise, only to fall back on all fours, gasping for breath that wouldn't come. 

Michera rose, and she approached him, not caring if the wolves killed her, not even afraid that the boy would kill her. She came beside him, and knelt by his side. "I'm sorry," she whispered.

Ookamishin, with much effort, raised his head to look into Michera's eyes. Blood dripped from his face, his left eye was crying blood, and a long gash reached from his eye to his chin. Yet he still managed to glare at her, "Why, Michera, our mission was to kill you?"

She looked into his eyes, grief darkening her eyes to a deep russet, "It wasn't you, it was the witch. Please forgive me."

"This is all very sweet." Teruhi spat venomously, "but I've spent enough time here." With that Teruhi flew at the two pups. With a force unrivaled by any of the wolves, Ookamishin was shoved out of the way as Teruhi grabbed Michera around the waist and took off with her. 

However, Ookamishin was not the only thing caught by the blast, the entire clearing was blown to bits, including his father's body. Ookamishin lay, bloodied and mangled against a boulder, he looked up in time to see the witch fly off with Michera unconscious in her arms. As his vision faded he whispered, "I'm sorry too, because.. I could never…forgive…you… Michera…….."

****

Author's note:

Sorry it took so long for me to finish this chapter, I've been busy, but here it is, please review!

~Crystal Arrow


	10. Chapter 10: Safe yeah, I messed up the n...

**The Demon Bride**

By Crystal Arrow

**Chapter 10: Safe**

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Inuyasha or the other characters from that story; they belong to someone else who actually has talent.

_She looked into his eyes, grief darkening her eyes to a deep russet, "It wasn't you, it was the witch. Please forgive me."_

_            "This is all very sweet." Teruhi spat venomously, "but I've spent enough time here." With that Teruhi flew at the two pups. With a force unrivaled by any of the wolves, Ookamishin was shoved out of the way as Teruhi grabbed Michera around the waist and took off with her. _

_            However, Ookamishin was not the only thing caught by the blast, the entire clearing was blown to bits, including his father's body. Ookamishin lay, bloodied and mangled against a boulder, he looked up in time to see the witch fly off with Michera unconscious in her arms. As his vision faded he whispered, "I'm sorry too, because.. I could never…forgive…you… Michera…"_

            The first rays of dawn were visible over the distant horizon hidden by the dense trees overhead. The fire had been reduced to softly glowing embers, which were easily blown away with the morning breeze. Michera let out a strangled sob as the tears, which had gradually been gathering in her golden eyes as she told the tale of her taking from her family, finally spilled. She sobbed softly as she collapsed into Sesshoumaru's side in tears. Sesshoumaru, who was completely unprepared for such a show of emotions tentatively held her as she cried all the tears she'd been collecting over the years away from her dear brothers. 

            Sesshoumaru was in complete shock; having had his emotions in freeze lock for near a century now. Michera completely disregarded his discomfort with her show of emotions and instead burrowed her face into her hard shoulders. The camp was pretty mush silent, Sango could easily relate to her pain of loss and separation from her family. Miroku knew better than to try to pull something at the moment given that if he did manage to anger one of the demons, he wouldn't live very long after that. Shippo and Rin had long since fallen into a peaceful slumber sometime during the night, and now the warm rays of dawn stretched into the camp and warmed the frozen heart of the demon lord to the point that he actually lifted his arm, his right arm, given that his left arm was gone, and held Michera closer to him for comfort. From that action he heard a defeated sigh and sniffle and Michera began to calm down.

            Now Kagome was always a very emotional girl, and seeing to stoic Sesshoumaru comforting his sister, and Inuyasha just remain sitting as arrogantly as always just pissed her off. "Inuyasha," She asked softly, "Aren't you going to comfort your little sister too?"

            "Feh!" Inuyasha huffed. "I don't see why she's crying, stupid wench, just like you, crying over every little thing. And she's a demon, she should just suck it up!"

            This comment made Kagome's blood boil. "She's your baby sister!! Don't you feel just a little sad for all that she's been through?!!? Don't you care at all that she's okay!!! …. GGRRRR, SIT!!!"

            And so Inuyasha face went to have a meeting with the ground. A few seconds later, Inuyasha jumped back up onto his feet with a vengeance. "Damn it, Bitch!!!" he roared into her face. "What the hell was that for?!!"

            Little tears began to collect in Kagome's eyes as Inuyasha yelled his fury at her. " How can you be so cold?"

            "Damn it bitch, don't cry!" Inuyasha proclaimed as Kagome began to cry. "Shit, Sesshoumaru, will you just hand my sister to me?"

            "No." he answered evenly.

            "No? NO?? WHY THE HELL NOT!?!?!" 

            "Because she's asleep." Inuyasha face faulted as he turned to face to his brother and indeed find Michera curled up in his and her tail on his lap, her breathing steady and quieted with sweet and peaceful slumber.

            Very far away, approximately five miles north of the camp where Inuyasha and co. were resting up after a long night of catching up, Ookamishin and his cousin Kouga were also making camp, or as far as camps go for demons, just sitting in a few trees they thought were comfortable enough. So, there were the two wolves sitting in neighboring trees completely silent as the sun completely rose over the distant horizon. Sunlight streamed through the trees' foliage, yet the wolves remained in shadow, completely hidden from even each other save for the stray light that reflected form their canine eyes. 

            For the fifth time in the last half hour, Kouga growled under his breath, anxious to question his cousin he had only recently recovered from god knows where. Ookamishin had been lost for nearly sixty years from the pack he was rightfully leader of, the elders had chased him away when his father was defeated by a mere child, and have only now accepted him because they all dead, killed by Naraku's demon spawn, Kagura. The few that remained of his pack were willing to accept Ookamishin as their leader, since Kouga wanted to settle down and claim Kagome, but that was an entirely different story. At present, Ookamishin had only just returned but the morning before, and had then left to find the girl he identified as the demon bride. However, what bugged Kouga most was that Ookamishin was the only one who knew that the demon bride had been chosen. Him and only him, but how would he know before any other lord of warrior, and where he had been lost for so long?

            "You're beginning to annoy me, cousin" a stoic calm voice pierced the silence.

            "W what do you m mean?" Kouga stuttered. He feared his cousin for near the same reason the great Lord Sesshoumaru was feared, for his mercilessness and cold heart, both of which he seemed to have acquired in his absence from the pack after his father's death.

            "You're incessant stirring and growling. If you have something you want to say, just say it." Ookamishin said, never once altering his tone of voice.

            "Oh, _damn, you weren't supposed to notice…_ Well, my apologies, my lord," Kouga faked in an honorable voice.

            "Quit your babbling, Kouga, and don't call me lord, it pisses me off. Just ask me what you wanted to say before I take away your only chance to do so." Ookamishin cut in.

            Kouga let out a suppressed breath and began once more. " Where have you been for the past sixty years?"  Kouga could see his cousin in the tree across from his, and he just barely caught the flash of pain that appeared in his eyes. Obviously, Ookamishin still had a lot of unfiltered pain from his past he had yet to face.

            "You want to know where I've been?" he asked, his voice betraying nothing of the pain that had just subsided from his brilliant green eyes. When he saw Kouga nod, he jumped from the tree he was in down to the forest floor below. Kouga soon followed, landing soundlessly by Ookamishin's side.  The two wolves began to walk away, one silent in recollection, the other in suspenseful waiting. They walked for a while, parallel to the golden star that was the sun that rose to their right, reaching high for the endless blue of the sky. After walking for a while Ookamishin stated, "I was never anywhere, for more than a few days that is."

            Kouga was startled by his younger cousin's abrupt start to speaking. He had begun to think that he would completely disregard his question and was taking him to a nice place to kill him, or something along those lines. "Why didn't you ever come back?" Kouga asked, his voiced pained as he recalled a childhood long past when he played by his young cousin's side, several years older than his cousin, Ookamishin used to gaze up at Kouga in high respect, as though he was invincible.  Ookamishin stayed silent under Kouga's gaze, as though if he made a sound, his cousin's stare would pierce all that remained of his defenses and kill his stoic facade.

            Ookamishin took a deep breath, steadying himself for the torrent emotion that was to come, _All I have to do is remain calm, just breathe deeply and hide it all, just hold it in. _"Didn't they ever tell you?" he asked, his voice betraying nothing of his inner turmoil.  He turned in order to face Kouga,  just in time to see him shake his head in confusion. "When my father lost to the daughter of the Demon Lord of the West, he was exiled, as was I, and then killed by the witch who controlled him and the pack. You remember those days, right? When that witch, Teruhi, would command every soul within the pack, rule our every whim, and order us around like slaves?" With an affirmative nod from Kouga he continued once more, "Well, she didn't want us, she wanted the demon lord's daughter, the daughter who survived her most powerful curse, possessed vast amounts of power, a supposed gift from the demon lord's first wife, and also a pure soul, unaffected by any sort of evil."

            "You mean that half-breed girl that was with the dog-turd?" 

            "Yes, she is the Demon Bride, the girl of legend who will grant unsurpassable power to he who becomes her mate."

            "Wait a minute." Kouga interrupted. "Do you mean she was made the demon bride by Teruhi?"

            "No, she was born the demon bride, and she survived the curse because of it."

            "Wow…." Kouga whispered in awe.

            "To answer your question," Ookamishin stated, "For the past fifty years, I've had been trying to break into Teruhi's fortress and kill the demon bride. However, I never succeeded in killing her." 

            "What about the witch?" Kouga asked.

            "After my father died, and I was exiled, she dismissed the pack, and tried to kill me. She left with the Demon bride, leaving me half dead in the fields below. When I healed and tried to go after her, the Demon Bride would always find me first, and use the spells Teruhi taught her to keep me away. Before you ask why, I'll answer. When my father died, she asked my forgiveness, but I did not give it. Therefore, whenever I came after her, she would still try to gain my forgiveness by protecting me from the witch. When she failed, I would be left fighting the witch, and usually barely getting away alive. It all ended a few months ago, she took advantage of Teruhi's attempts to gather the shikon shards, and killed her when she returned from one of her jewel searching excursions, and escaped before I could get to her."

            Kouga was nodding, as though he understood. "Anymore questions?" Ookamishin asked.

            "Just two." Kouga responded. As Ookamishin rolled his eyes, Kouga grinned and asked, "Why'd you kiss her?" 

            With that question, Ookamishin just about lost his stoic mask and fell over. However, he only tripped lightly, and blushed. He quickly turned away from his cousin, coughing into his hand as if to clear his throat. "ahem… Well, since I have failed to kill her as of yet, I decided instead to take advantage of her being the demon bride. I would train to the point of being undefeatable, and  then claim her as my own, and with her then at my mercy, extract my revenge as I wish."

            "Oh, I see, you developed a little crush on her, didn't you?" Ookamishin finally lost his mask and fell to the ground. 

            He jumped back up, face pitch red, and roared, "SHUT UP!!" Ookamishin turned back around and once again tried to regain his composure. "Anything else?" 

            "Yeah, can I call you Mishin? You know, just like the old days, cause I'm sorry, but you haven't changed enough for me to go run away with my tail between my legs, you're still as silly a the pup I used to know. Not to mention, your full name is just too plain long for my tastes." Kouga finished.

            Ookamishin turned around, and simply stared at Kouga, mouth agape. Suddenly, he burst out laughing, bending over and grasping his stomach as he laughed harder than he had in years. "Sure," He gasped out between laughs, "And I'll call you Girly!"

            "WHAT?!?!?!" Kouga yelled.

            "yeah, you look just like a girl with you little pony tail, and skirt!"

            "No, You didn't! You're the one who looks like the girl!!" However Mishin didn't hear him, for he was still laughing, as though for no apparent reason, as if he hadn't laughed in so long, he just released it all now, in an unstoppable torrent of laughter and happiness at finally being reunited with his cousin and broken pack.  After a while, Kouga started laughing too, drawn in by Mishin's happiness. They tackled each other, and played like pups, for they lacked in those days, and they most definitely needed to catch up.

Author's note:     I know, it took me forever to get this one chapter done, several months actually. I'm sorry, but I can't guarantee I'll have the time to actually work on it, I barely have the time, but I'll try! Please review, maybe I'll be encouraged to write more!

~Crystal Arrow


	11. Chapter 11: Settling In

**The Demon Bride**

By Crystal Arrow

**Chapter 11:  Settling in.**

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Inuyasha or the other characters from that story; they belong to someone else who actually has talent.

            Michera woke early, before the sun's first rays of light began to warm the earth. She woke to find herself warm for the very firs time in years, not cold, or shivering in fear of the witch. For the first time in the longest time, since almost beyond her memory's reach, she felt warm, and safe. 

            She rose slowly, careful not to disturb any of the warmth around her in case she might wish to return to it. Rubbing sleep from her golden eyes with a smooth fist, she stretched, the action causing her spine to crack refreshingly all the way down to the tip of her tail. Opening her eyes, she looked around herself, and smiled. She herself had been wrapped in the warmth of her elder brother, Sesshoumaru's tail, and to her other side, cuddled within the end of the dog demon's tail was the little girl she had found to be traveling with him. Looking around more into the distance, she found the pretty girl her other brother had been traveling with snuggled in some sort of bag blanket with the kitsune cub held firmly in her arms across the smothered fire. And nearby to them lay the perverted monk, suspiciously close to the demon exterminator and her cute cat demon companion. All that was missing was her brother, Inuyasha.

            Rising carefully in order to make sure that she did not disturb Sesshoumaru, she continued to study the mismatched groups camp site in search of her other brother. After several moments in search, she had still not found him. That is until she heard a soft snort from above. Glancing up, she smiled one more, for there was Inuyasha settled comfortably in the tree above where she had slept, high enough to see her and the entire camp. He looked so much younger asleep, almost like as he did as a pup, except that his clothes weren't quite so baggy. "Ka..gom..e…" she heard him mumble in his sleep. She giggled softly, it seemed as though he very much liked the human girl he had taken to traveling with. She would have to remember to tease, and maybe play a little bit of matchmaker!

            After a few moments more spent in reminiscence, she took to the air and disappeared from the camp long before the suns light broke unto the clearing. 

            A few hours later, the camp finally came alive, and rather quickly at that. See, what happened is that the famous perverted monk Miroku woke up first. He looked over to Sango a few feet away, sleeping peacefully with her faithful Kirara by her side, and he decided, it couldn't hurt to give her a little good morning kiss, now could it? How wrong he was.

            His choice to kiss Sango started an entire chain reaction of events to begin in this order:

1.) Sango woke up in a shock and upon realizing what Miroku was doing, and proceeded to pulverize him with her bone boomerang.

2.) The noise Sango made managed to wake Kagome and disturb Sesshoumaru into glaring, but then returning to sleep. The children, Shippo and Rin woke and watched as Sango beat Miroku into a bloodied pulp.

3.) Kagome looked around the camp only to find that the newest member of the inu gang, Michera, was missing, and she unwisely stated this fact out loud.

4.) Well, now Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru were wide-awake and ready to attack whatever could have possible kidnapped their newly found baby sister. 

5.) They began to argue over whose fault it was that Michera was missing which in turn made Rin start to cry, since she didn't like to see her Sesshoumaru-sama angry. 

6.) This in turn caused Shippo to jump into the fray as well and tell Inuyasha to shut up which in turn resulted in him turning around and chase Shippo in an attempt to silence and probably beat the kit into bloodied pulp.

So now the entire camp was awake and fighting, save for Kagome, whom was desperately trying to calm Rin down enough to be able to make sense of the entire situation. Now Kagome was usually a very kind, gentle and patient girl, however, she was pms-ing, and after a long night of talking, she wasn't ready to awake. Thus, the first day of the new and improved inu gang began.

"Gggrrrrr……SIT!!!" Kagome screamed at the top of her lungs. The campsite fell silent, as Inuyasha crashed down onto the ground none too gently. At that moment Michera calmly strolled into the clearing as though she was never gone, all the while ringing out her long midnight black hair and tail.

"Hey, you guys, what was all that noise about?" she asked innocently.

Inuyasha pounced up out of his new hole in the ground and landed before her, snarling. "You, you stupid wench, whe..."was as far as he got before Sesshoumaru knocked him upside the head rather harshly.

      "Don't call her names, mutt."

      "Stop fighting, you two," Kagome ordered, "You've already made Rin cry once."

      "Rin," Sesshoumaru asked, "is that true?" Rin didn't need to answer, Sesshoumaru could see her tear stained cheeks as it was, but she nodded regardless.

Michera now took the time to at last survey the campsite. She found Miroku in a bloodied heap on the ground, Shippo somewhere up in a tree, Rin still crying softly along with other various damages to the camp. "Just what happened while I was gone?" she asked hesitantly.

From nowhere, Myouga appeared on the shoulder of her newly washed kimono. "Well, Lady Michera, it seems the camp came awake to find you missing along with various other things."

She remained silent for a second as she looked over the camp. There was still some battle ki left over from her two brothers' confrontation with each other upon her disappearance. The area where Sango had slept was left in ruins, and Miroku in a bloodied heap in the center of it, he seemed to have put up very little fight against Sango and her rage, or was un able to at all. Everything was out of place and strewn about after hurried awakenings all around. Overall, it seemed as though a tornado had passed through the area, or perhaps a battle, if not the entire war. She giggled, "All this for me?"

"This isn't funny, Michera!" Inuyasha growled. "We were really worried about you."

"I'd only gone to take a bath." She had started before now both Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru interrupted her.

"It took you that long to take a bath?!?!" They yelled together as one.

Michera stepped back a step. "What? I just fell asleep!"

At this Kagome started laughing. She hugged Michera tightly as she stifled her laughter unsuccessfully after receiving rather vicious glares from both dog brothers. Michera seemed to have gone slightly tense at the close encounter. "Oh, boy, we'll get along just fine, we will. Yeah we will!"

Michera looked at Kagome sideways then relaxed slightly. Shaking her head slightly, she let out an exasperated sigh. "Sheesh, all this over a bath. What will you guys do when the suitors start popping up?"

Sesshoumaru finally spoke calmly and evenly, at last back to his usual icy self. There seemed to be a rather odd gleam to his eyes though as he answered her. "Kill them."

At this, the camp spirit lifted back to normal, despite the new largeness of the group and the morning's events. The children cheered up, and Shippo at last came down from the tree in which he had taken refuge from Inuyasha to join in the laughter that now filled the air. Miroku regained a bit of consciousness and joined in the laughter, more laughing at himself than whatever anyone had said, he was still not back to any real state of sanity after all the blows to the head he got from Sango. 

From here on out, the new gang got along well, Michera and Kagome sharing the roll as the binding of the group: Kagome keeping Inuyasha with the original group, and befriending Rin; Michera binding the brothers and keeping them from killing each other. A new journey would begin, one that could be called a very large side quest to the search for the Shikon no Tama and to defeat Naraku and that would play an extremely large roll in his defeat, for when there are two grand sources of power together in one place, any demon would give anything to get them both.

Author's Note: Long time since I've updated anything, this is a major wow. I never had many people reading my stories, not that reviewed anyway, but I'm pretty those that have are going to shoot me for delaying this for so long, and also for having to say, it will be a very long time before I probably will be able to update again. Sorry, and please don't hurt me! 

~Crystal Arrow


	12. Chapter 12: Facing the Facts

**The Demon Bride**

By Crystal Arrow

**Chapter 12: Facing the Facts**

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Inuyasha or the other characters from that story; they belong to someone else who actually has talent.

            For some time, things were quiet. Sesshoumaru took to helping Inuyasha collect the Shikon shards since Rin had become so attached to his group and his little sister insisted upon it.  No one bothered them other than the usual demons that had possession of Shikon Shards and desired more and the usual passing of Kikyo. However, after the first few visits, Michera noticed how much it disturbed the balance of the group and forced Inuyasha to explain why the vile smelling woman constantly came. When he explained everything about what had happened before with the now undead priestess and Naraku, he got the biggest beating of his life from Michera. After knocking some sense into him, she made him choose between Kagome and Kikyo (she was obviously rooting for Kagome, they'd taken a liking to each other, and had begun to hang out a lot together, the three women of the group together, and Kikyo did nothing but upset that balance, depressing Kagome and thus the other two girls.) He had seemed dumbstruck at first, then after making sure no one else was around, Confessed that he loved Kagome but felt obligated to Kikyo. This earned him a second beating that ended only when he promised that next visit, he would tell Kikyo to piss off and he would confess to Kagome his feelings.  They ended up returning to camp, Inuyasha a bruised up mess with a bloody nose, and Michera bouncing about like a little girl come out of a candy store. 

            Besides that, all was quiet, the portion of the jewel in their possession was slowly growing and the two wolves had not bothered them since their first encounter in the beginning. But all was soon to change, for with the passing of time, the future comes closer, and the future sadly held dark tidings for all.

            Time passed yet again, Inuyasha had confessed to Kagome his feelings for her after an encounter with Kikyo, which over all, ended rather amusingly.  Kikyo had showed up before the group with Naraku, Inuyasha was shocked to find that Kikyo worked against him with his enemy.  After a quick battle with Naraku thanks to the doubled fighting force of the group, Kikyo was left standing alone before the band of shard hunters. Just as she had turned to flee, Michera had shown up behind her…

            "Just where do you think you are going, Bitch?"

            "You must be mistaken on who the bitch is here." Kikyo had responded calmly, no feelings showing in her dull eyes. 

            The hanyou girl had laughed at this, "Yeah, well, at least I'm the right species to be considered one that it's not an insult. For you, however, it is!" At that, Michera had forcefully turned Kikyo around to face Inuyasha. "I believe he has something to say to you."

            "Kikyo…." Inuyasha whispered. Kagome watched fearfully from behind, her grip on Shippo tight in her fear. Would Inuyasha choose between them now? Would he choose Kikyo? Or her? "I don't love you." A thud was heard from behind Inuyasha. He ignored it. "Naraku pitted us against each other, then you did not forgive me for it. I used to love you, I would have done anything for you, but now, I see you didn't love me or me." A second thud was heard. "Kikyo, I won't go to hell with you, life is too precious, I'm sorry."

            With that, Inuyasha had turned around, turning his back on Kikyo. His eyes widened in Surprise to find Kagome passed out on the ground before him.

            "How dare you!! You have to come to hell with me!" Kikyo had screeched, Inuyasha words only then sinking into her dead skull.  She took out her bow and arrows and prepared to fire at Inuyasha. Upon releasing the arrow however, there was a flash of light. When the light cleared, all that remained were her miko garbs strewn upon the ground, Kikyo's own arrow piercing the breast of the outfit. 

            " What the fuck?" Inuyasha yelled. 

            "Oh woops." Michera had giggled.

            " Woops what?!"

            " Woops, it appears I accidentally put a reflection shield around her. Sorry, Kikyo was so mad, she shot herself"

            "YOU DID THAT ON PURPOSE!!"

            "So?"

            "Lighten up Inuyasha," Sesshoumaru intervened, "it was time the dead bitch stayed dead."

            And so, the tale of how Kikyo came to an abrupt end.  

  And so, the odd group of demons, hanyous and humans traveled the feudal era in search of shards, Kagome sometimes going back to the future in order to catch up in her school work, much to the dismay of Inuyasha. It was on one such day in the encroaching fall that Kagome was on her way to return to the future that the real adventure began for this group. 

            "Inuyasha, I'm going home for three days so I can catch up on my school work." Kagome stated matter of factedly.

            "What, no you don't, wench, you just came back two weeks ago, how will we ever collect all of the shards if you keep leaving?!"  Inuyasha protested.

            "Come on!" 

            "Here we go." Miroku sighed. 

            "Will they ever stop fighting over such petty things?" Sango joined. 

            Sesshoumaru watched in mild amusement as he usually did and Michera stood, ears twitching and tail wagging excitedly, "They are so kawaii together!!" she whispered under her breathe to Shippo who was perched upon her shoulder. 

            "Eww." Was Shippo's response to that. Suddenly, he stopped and stood still upon Michera's shoulder and sniffed the air delicately. He turned to her, confused, "Hey, Michera, why did your scent just change?" 

            "Nani?" 

            Sesshoumaru now turned to his little sister upon overhearing Shippo's comment. He too sniffed the air, then growled. 

            Inuyasha ceased arguing with Kagome. "What was that?"

            The group stayed quiet, seemingly, Sesshoumaru was not happy about the change in his little sister's scent. "Michera's in heat." 

            "NANI!!??" everyone shouted, Michera among the loudest.

            "Grrrr, Michera's in heat, or did I not speak it clear enough?" Sesshoumaru growled again.

            "Damn it, that means there are going to be demons following us non-stop!" Inuyasha cursed, "Maybe we can send her to stay in the future with Kagome until it passes? Michera?"

            However, Michera wasn't listening, she stayed dazed, staring off into space, "No, it can't be now… not yet…"

            "What are you talking about, Oneesan?" Shippo asked. He had taken to calling her big sister much to the dislike of her brothers, given that made them brothers to not only Shippo, but to each other, something they still denied. 

            "Yeah," Inuyasha growled next to her now, as he removed the kit from her shoulder, "What are you mumbling about?" 

            "You mean she still hasn't told you all the details?" a familiar voice broke in from above, followed by the scent of wolves. Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru quickly took positions surrounding their little sister. Upon doing so, a whirlwind came unto them from the path behind them. 

It cleared to reveal Koga standing smugly in what was once its center. "How's my woman?" he declared. A sweat drop could be seen falling from Kagome's brow as Inuyasha twitched in aggravation.  However, there was no time for a fight to break out, for at that exact moment, Mishin landed in the clearing.   

"Ookamishin." Sesshoumaru stated calmly. He knew to keep emotions out of a situation such as this, unlike his hanyou brother who was at the moment becoming increasingly frustrated about the wolf Koga, who was in turn, making moves on the human wench, Kagome.  "Just what details do you believe she has not yet revealed?" He also knew not to go and automatically turn on his sister because of what the wolf said; he needed more details before he demanded details from Michera. 

            Ookamishin also knew more about these situations than certain relatives who would be left unnamed, like those that made moves on the enemy's woman upon every encounter. "Oh, not much, Sesshoumaru, just the small print in the deal she was forced into, such as the who, what and where." 

            "She has already told us everything about being forced to b the mate of whoever defeats her."

            "Oh no, she hasn't."

            "He's right…", Michera whispered. She still seemed to be in a daze over some newfound realization.

            Sesshoumaru turned to face her. She seemed totally subdued now, where she would usually be happy and full of energy, quickly beginning and ending fights on the turn of a diem, she now seemed as if the worst news in the world had just been revealed to her, which unknown to him, was. "And what would these details be?"

            Michera made no move to speak. "INUYASHA! SIT!" Kagome yelled. Inuyasha had been about to attack Koga. Kagome then removed the offending arm of Koga from her shoulder and stepped away from him. Inuyasha lay embedded in the ground cursing and Koga had a hurt expression on his face. "Koga, I don't like you that way, besides, now is not the time. My friend seems distressed, and you are distracting her brother."

            "Yeah!" Inuyasha yelled, jumping up. 

            "Okay, Kagome, only because now is not the time, but later." Another sweat drop fell from her brow. 

            She stiffly walked away from Koga. _Ohmigosh, when will he leave me alone? I like Inuyasha, not him!_  "Michera?" She asked gently, pushing aside the matters of Koga and Inuyasha for the time being. "Please tell us, what haven't you told us?"

            Michera lifted her head slowly. Her bangs swayed in a soft breeze revealing watery worried eyes, she was greatly stressed by the situation.  "On my third heat cycle, the shield that protects me from being claimed too early is removed, and the spell that prevents me from harming those who come to study me is also released, thus beginning my fight to defend myself from any who wish to claim me, and leaving me open to be defeated.  On my fourth cycle, if I have not been defeated yet, then… then… my chance to chose who to lose to if I should chose, is taken from me, and I am once again left without power, and to the mercy of any who can defeat any other challengers, and take me." She lowered her face, hiding her eyes from view. "As an inu hanyou, my cycle happens twice a year, and as a part of one of the many spells the witch cast on my, my body matured more slowly than normal, so that my heat cycles would not begin until I was older… … … that makes this my third cycle."

            "What does that mean?" Inuyasha asked hesitantly. 

            "That means, you idiot," Ookamishin, " That she is now free for the taking to any who can defeat her." 

Author's note: Oh! Look, I updated! He he, you may not have noticed, but I update one story at a time, after updating, I move on to the story I have not updated in the longest time, meaning, the next chapter of this won't come for a while again, though I do try to write when I get the chance, but I'm really busy all the time, so please don't hurt me, wait like two weeks, and hopefully, around then, the next chapter of this should be up! Don't hurt me!"

 Crystal Arrow


	13. Chapter : Fight for the Right

**The Demon Bride**

By Crystal Arrow

**Chapter 13: Fight for the right.**

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Inuyasha or the other characters from that story; they belong to someone else who actually has talent.

"That means, you idiot," Ookamishin, " That she is now free for the taking to any who can defeat her."

"WHAT THE FUCK!?!" was the first response from Inuyasha.

"NO WAY IN HELL ARE YOU TOUCHING MY SISTER!" was the second from Sesshoumaru. Michera seemed to just blanch.

"You can't take Michera away from us!" Kagome protested far more gently than the accompanying demons.

Ookamishin smirked at the wide variety of responses he gained from the group surrounding the demon bride. "And just how would you plan on stopping me?"

"Well obviously, you wimpy wolf, I'd kill you!"

"And what an effective plan that is, mutt, given how effective that was the last time we came face to face."

_Flashback_

Like hell it doesn't concern me!" Sesshoumaru roared as he lunged at the demon that stood before him. The demon sidestepped and then passed Sesshoumaru. He dropped a seed on the ground then stepped over it. A barrier surrounded him and whatever else he was looking at, which happened to be Michera. Sesshoumaru turned to run after the demon that was now approaching his sister only to run into a barrier that now surrounded his sister and the demon. " Don't you dare touch her!" he roared as he pounded on the barrier with his fists.

End Flashback

"And even if you could get past any barriers I could create, what's to say you even can kill me?" the wolf questioned. In return he received several rather vicious growls from the dog demons.

"Well," Miroku asked, "What's stopping you from taking her now?"

Ookamishin was silent, and a cold glint shone in his eyes, a cruel light deep within his eyes that glistened and glittered like that of a predator having found the perfect prey and knowing, it was his. That said light in his eye breed an all-new form of fear in Michera, a fear greater than any she has yet been made face. A cold colder than even Sesshoumaru's heart as she saw it before its slowly thawed with the help little girl he raised and hastened by her own arrival. It was cold; it was complete and utter hate. "I never said I would fight her now."

Kagome asked hesitantly, " Then what do you want?"

" I want to see her suffer as I have suffered, never safe, always weak and afraid. I want to see her fight, and just when she might loose, be saved, so she'll have to continue to fight. I won't let you loose." His cold voice swore. " I won't let you lose, and in the very end, when you don't want to fight any more, couldn't possible think to fight anymore but for fear that your power will fall into the wrong hands…I'll be there. You will be mine, and you will pay for what you did to me you bitch!"

"ENOUGH!" The Lord of the western lands roared. He didn't want to hear this demon talk so cruelly to his sister with threats he himself could recall saying to others. He didn't want to be like him. Sesshoumaru's claws glowed green with poison as they flew in their path to slice through Ookamishin, but they never tasted his blood. He was gone.

Michera was silent behind the group, gazing up at the sky. The group watched her waiting for her to say something, anything at all. After a long moment, she sighed, "Time flies so quickly."

"Michera." Kagome whispered in support.

"I have come to an age in demon terms in which I am supposedly ready to be taken for a mate. Because of my powers that I have been cursed with, practically every demon with the slightest bit of power will come for me to try and court me, which I fully intend to refuse; or fight me. Should I be defeated, I will belong to he who defeated me. Such is my curse."

Inuyasha was growling in frustration. It's hard for one so rambunctious as he to stay quiet in a situation like this, but he knew he would only make things worse. Sesshoumaru was also having trouble containing his own frustration. "Why…"he growled, "would you not inform us of this?"

"Because…I was afraid you'd be mad."

Inuyasha snapped, "We're fucking mad now!!" The hanyou didn't flinch.

"What should I have done? Do you think I know? I don't. I've been running since I managed to just barely defeat the witch. Every demon I've come across has attacked me though luckily, up until now, I've been protected by the witch's spell. Now I am exploited by it. Only two choices remain for me, to fight and defeat every suitable male demon in the lands, or find someone relatively good of heart, very rare indeed, and surrender myself to him." Michera gazed into the eyes of those around her, "Should any demon that attacks while I am around chooses he wants to try and defeat me, you may not interfere. That leaves you with two choices: Leave me to fight it out on my own, or stay by me, and help me through this by being there."

For a day so bright, everything seemed to have become so sad. Her companions gave no immediate response. Finally, Kagome stepped forward, for all her good will, "I'll stay by you."

" As will I." Sango stated.

"I can't allow such a beautiful woman to go though such an ordeal alone." Miroku nodded sagely. That was before Inuyasha knocked him unconscious.

"Feh, whatever."

Sesshoumaru was the last counting vote; the children took a liking to Michera and wanted to stay by her anyways. Before he could say anything though, Kagome shouted out, "I sense a jewel shard coming fast!"

Within seconds a large ogre came crashing though the trees towards the group. He stopped and glanced between Kagome and Michera. He laughed hideously, like one big grotesque gurgle. "Just my luck, both the jewel shards and the so called demon bride right here for me to take."

Sesshoumaru moved so as to guard Michera, but she stopped him with her slender clawed hand on his shoulder. "If you wish to protect me Onii-sama, just stay behind me, I can fight."

The ogre moved so as to take a swipe at the group, aiming mostly for Michera. "MOVE!" She shouted out, before disappearing. Inuyasha grabbed Kagome and Shippo, and Sango and Miroku took flight on an enlarged Kirara. Sesshoumaru disappeared with Rin in his arms. Jaken was left to be sent flying from the ogre's mighty blow.

Michera reappeared on the Ogre's arm as he drew it back. Leaping forth and extending her claws, she cried out, "Claws of thorns!" and from her swipe an outwards extending force that grew like a vine outwards to engulf the ogre in a cloud of thorn like energy protrusions that tore him apart. He dissipated leaving two jewel shards and a pile of ashes in his place. The battle was short and sweet. Kagome retrieved and purified the jewel shards. "Well, that makes jewel shard hunting easy!"

The group congratulated Michera on a quick kill. Sesshoumaru watched impassively. "Onii-sama?" Michera asked.

"I will accompany and assure that you are not hurt."

Michera smiled, so her friends and brothers wouldn't leave her. She was so happy. "Thank you, Onii-sama. And you too Inu-chan." Inuyasha fehed at her old pet name for him. But at the same time and was happy inside. For the longest time he had longed to have his family together, but had believed his sister dead, and that Sesshoumaru hated him. But now, at long last, they were together, and he also had friends that cared for all his family, though they were still getting used to Sesshoumaru and his icy attitude.

"You're welcome Imouto-chan." Sesshoumaru nodded in response.

Inuyasha pouted, "She's my little sister."

"And why would she want a weak halfling like you as her elder brother?" He asked icily. Nobody said brothers got along.

Author's note:

Sorry for taking so long to update this, but I'm kinda stuck. But because I've been getting reviews asking for this, I forced this chapter out. Thank you everyone who's been reviewing for any of my stories. I'm sorry if I disappoint you ever, I'm trying.

Crystal arrow


End file.
